Adult DCLM Search the Scripture 12 June 2022 | Christ’s Teaching on Sabbath
Deeper Life Search the Scripture 12 June 2022
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ADULT STS LESSON 23 – CHRIST’S TEACHING ON THE SABBATH
MEMORY VERSE: “And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have
one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath
day” (Matt 12:11,12).
TEXT: Matt 12:1-21; Lk 6:1-16; 13:10-17
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
The sacredness of the Sabbath and its relevance in the New Testament dispensation has engaged the attention of Christians in contemporary times. While a school of thought denies any obligation to the Sabbath’s observance by New Testament believers, another school profess continued relevance of it. It is important as believers to study the scriptures with sincere heart and willingness to understand its nuggets, and stay within the confines of the Holy Writ. The Sabbath dates back to the time of creation when God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh (Gen 2:2,3).
God intended the principle of one day of rest in every seven to be followed by man when He commanded through Moses that: “…To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye shall seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning” (Exo 16:23). During their forty-year wilderness journey, the
Israelites were required to gather on the sixth day “twice as much bread…” in order to rest on the
seventh day (Exo 16:22). God later entrenched the law of Sabbath in the Decalogue as the fourth
commandment (Exo 20:8-11).
The Sabbath was dedicated for worship and rest from labour. The sacredness of the Sabbath was one of the unique identification marks of the Jewish nationality during the long stretch of their history and it was a glad reminder of their perpetual covenant with God. The prophets of the Old Testament often reminded the Jews of the fourth commandment, the neglect of which was regarded as an indication of spiritual backsliding (Isa 58:13,14; 56:4-7).
As time went by however, Jewish teachers and leaders imposed many other restrictions to be observed on the Sabbath, having lost sight of the divine purpose of the law. For example, it became a crime to carry about anything on the sabbath or to walk more than 2,000 cubits (about 2 kilometers) on the Sabbath day. While they applied the moral laws loosely, they became fanatical and hypocritical on ceremonies and observance of the Sabbath to the detriment of the good of man and glory of God. The Lord therefore, inspired His prophets to denounce their evil. “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moon and Sabbaths… I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and her solemn feasts” (Isa 1:13; Hosea 2:11).
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
The misapplication of this law even at the time of Christ underpins the events in the texts being studied. The incidents in our text provide a good opportunity to learn from the Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, the divine intention and what should be the believers attitude towards the Sabbath. Because He gave the law in the first place, Christ is the most qualified to rightly interpret the same.
1. CONTROVERSY OF THE PHARISEES WITH CHRIST’S DISCIPLES Matt 12:1-8; Lk 6:1-5; Matt 23:23; Ps 19:7,8; 1 Sam 21:6; Lev 24:5-9
“At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an
hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they
said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day”
(Matt 12;1,2).
The Pharisees omitted the weightier matter of the law – judgement, mercy and faith andbecame self-appointed watchdogs of the observance of sabbath. In spite of the rigid observance of
restrictive rules on movement and behaviour, they would feel compelled to lift up their animal that fell into the ditch or even take them out for grazing and circumcise their male children on the Sabbath day (Matt 12:11,12; Lk 13:14-16; Jhn 7;21-23). It is obvious that their ignorance interwove with hypocrisy as they turned law which was intended to refresh man’s spirit and body into a tool of malevolent vindictiveness. Thus, they used it widely against Christ and his followers (Matt 12:1-12; Mark 1;21-27; 2;23-28; 3:1-7; Luke 6:1-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-9; 7:22,23, 9:1-16).
The law of Moses permitted the Israelites who are hungry to help themselves with grants from their neighbors’ fields, as long as they did not use the sickle nor carry the grains away in a container (Deut 23:24,25). The quarrel was therefore not with stealing corn. In the scribes and pharisees’ strict interpretation, the picking of the grain was equivalent to harvesting corn; rubbing it in their hands was adjudged as threshing and separating the grain from the chaff as winnowing. Whenever the loving purpose of God’s commandment is misunderstood, men will either live in self-hurting disobedience or their so-called obedience will degenerate into mere soulless, hollow and sterile formalism that neither glorify God nor serve the welfare of man.
The formalistic adherence to the letters and the neglect of the true spirit of divine laws and
ordinances has their manifestations in many ways today. Many people attend church but are not born again; others think that giving material donations to religious bodies and projects can assuage their sins before God.
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
Outward forms of religion without transformation of life and character through faith in Christ displease God. In defending the actions of His disciples, Christ referred to an incident in the life
of David, when he and his distraught men ate the shewbread which was normally reserved for the
priesthood only. Christ inferred that such acts of dire necessity on the Sabbath were justified before
God. The Lord also reminded the Pharisees that the priests in the temple on the Sabbath did servile
works such as killing and burning sacrifices which ordinarily would have been regarded as an infraction of the fourth commandment. Such works done of temple service. If temple service was a justification service of Christ would more rightly justify what the disciples attending to Him did on the Sabbath.
The temple was the symbol of God’s presence, the meeting point between God and man, the place of instruction in piety and righteousness. Christ is the express image of God. Like the Pharisees of old, many today have left the substance of true worship; namely, the reverence of God and true righteousness in Christ while chasing empty shadows of formalistic religious observances. From the response of Jesus, we learn that he justified the action of the disciples who were on the path of duty. Believers should carry out their action within the confines of the law of God whether they are maligned or not.
Throughout the Scripture, Christ performed many miracles of mercy, forgiveness and healing on the Sabbath. God intended the Sabbath to be dedicated for His worship and glory, not for mundane, commercial and fleshly concerns. The Lord’s Day should not become a day of idle or selfish pursuit of our own pleasure and material gains (Isa 58:13,14). New Testament believers observe worship service on the first day of the week, scripturally called the Lord’s Day (Rev 1:10). This is patterned after Christ and the Church.
a. Jesus resurrected triumphantly from the grave on the first day of the week (Matt 28:1-7; Mark
16:1-7). By this singular action, the Lord exalted the finished work of grace above the religion of
Jewish Sabbath worship.
b. Christ’s post-resurrection manifestations of His disciples were on the first day of the week (Matt
28:1; Mark 16;9; Lk 24:1,13-15; Jhn 20:1,19,26).
c. The Holy Ghost chose the first day of the week to fill the 120 disciples in the upper room with power for service. The Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost which was the first day after seven Jewish Sabbaths (Acts 2:1-4; Lev 23:15-21).
d. The early Church kept the first day of the week as the day of worship (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:9; Jhn
20:1,19,26; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10).
e. Jesus had a remarkable encounter with John the beloved at the isle of Patmos and gave him
Revelation on the first day of the week (Rev 1:10).
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
Christ and His apostles in their sermons and exhortations spoke on the believers’ freedom to worship anytime and anywhere (Matt 12:1-8; Rom 14:5,6; Col 2:16).
Christ declared that He had not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it (Matt 5:17-19). As a result, the New Testament believer is expected to maintain a godly and devotional attitude in the observance of the Lord’s Day (Isa 58:13; Ps 118:24; Exo 20:8,9; Acts 20:7; Ps 100:1).
The Lord’s Day must not be profaned by engaging in business either by selling or employing others to do the same except in a case of strict necessity and charity (Exo 20:9; Matt 12:12). We should observe it with a solemn attitude of looking forward to the heavenly rest (Heb 4:9-11).
2. CONFIRMATION ON THE LAWFULNESS OF WORDS OF MERCY ON THE SABBATH
Luke 6:6-10; Matt 12:9-21; Luke 13:10-17; Matt 5:17; Heb 10:24,25; Gal 1:10
“And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught:
and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched
him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against
him” (Lk 6:6,7).
Christ healed the man with a withered right hand the “woman which had the spirit
of infirmity” and performed other miracles on the Jewish Sabbath day (Jhn 5:5-9; 9:6-14). He did
them in a manner so unabashedly contrary to the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. His intention, no doubt, was to free the fourth commandment from all the falsehood and corruption forced on it by the Jewish religious leaders. “Think not that I am come destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt 5;17).
His rhetorical question, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to evil? To save life, or to kill?” and His rebuke to those at the healing of the woman with the spirit of infirmity reveals non-prohibition of good works or acts of mercy. Works of mercy to end human suffering or distress are lawful on the Sabbath. It was also an appeal to their conscience and compassion upon their fellow men. Christ’s healing of the sick, in spite of the heartless opposition of the scribes and Pharisees, teaches us not to be deterred from pleasing God by the opposition we encounter from men, “…for if {we} yet please men {we} should not be the servant{s} Christ” (Gal 1:10).
His purposeful action to redeem the Sabbath law from corruption implies that He wants it to be observed by His church. There would have been no need for Christ to explain the correct application of a law which was to end with the Old Testament dispensation. Christ’s presence in the synagogue every Sabbath day is also very instructive. One of the reasons “the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” is to promote His worship in a public assembly.
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
As believers we are enjoined not to forsake “…the assembling of ourselves together, as a manner of some is…” God’s word administer on the Christian Sabbath day refreshes, heals and enlightens us in our walk with Him. Besides public worship, it provides opportunity for both private congregational prayers and fellowship. Man is terribly incapacitated by sin and sickness. The soul of a natural man is dead in sin and trespasses. It is only by the power of the grace of Christ that we are transformed, empowered and enabled to become useful to God, ourselves and others.
Like those healed in the text, we must respond to Christ’s offer of redemption through obedience and faith. The universal command to all is: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). After the healing of the man with a withered hand, the scribes and Pharisees “were filled with madness; and commanded one to another what they might do to Jesus” (Lk 6:11). Christ, on His part, went into a private prayer. “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayers” (Ps 109:4). Christ prayed to renew His spiritual power to respond to the scribes and Pharisees, and to be guided on the important task of selecting His disciples. The Lord invites us to “Come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23
3. CHRISTIAN SABBATH ON THE LORD’S DAY Lk 6:5; Jhn 20:1,19,26; Acts 2:1; 1 Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10; Heb 4:9
The Hebrew word “shabbath” which is translated as “Sabbath” means repose or cessation from work, not “seventh”. It is the cessation from work that makes a day Sabbath; it has been observed on different days other than the seventh (Lev 23:39). Moreover, Sabbaths in the, Scripture have been of different durations, such as one day as it is in Exodus 16:23-29, seventy years in 2 Chronicles 36:21 and for eternity in Hebrews 4:9,10. The Christian Sabbath is the first day of the week which the early believers called the “Lord’s Day”. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of trumpet” (Rev 1:10). Most landmark events in the New Testament church were delivered on the first day od the week. These include:
i. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Jhn 20:1). As the first creation by God was
commemorated by the seventh day Sabbath, so the new creation is Christ was commemorated on
the first day Sabbath.
ii. Christ met with His disciples on the next two Lord’s days (Jhn 20:19,26).
iii. The Holy Spirit was given on the first day of the week (Acts 2:1).
iv. The early disciples met on the first day of the week to break bread in remembrance of the Lord’s
death and resurrection.
v. The first day of the week was appointed by God for Christians to set funds aside for God’s work (1
Cor 16:2).
From Christ’s teaching, the prohibition of work on the Lord’s Day does not apply to the service of God, deeds of necessity or mercy. The ritualistic ceremonial observance on the Sabbath which some Jews sought to introduce into the early church was not commanded for the New Testament believers. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days” (Col 2:16). Christians do not earn salvation by keeping the Lord’s Day. Rather, it is the day of devotion to the one who gave Himself for us. The resurrection of Christ marks a new beginning for mankind, and the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week is the symbol of the new beginning.
DCLM Search The Scripture 12 June 2022 | Lesson 23 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW:
- Why did God give the Sabbath as a law in the Old Testament?
- Why is it important to understand the intention and purpose of divine commandments?
- What major principles relating to the observance of the fourth commandment did Christ lay
down by his defence of His disciples? - What practices are forbidden by God on the Lord’s Day?
- Explain how anyone can benefit from Christ’s redemptive work.
- Explain why Christians observe the first day of the week for worship and rest.
- How does the Sabbath affect the New Testament saints?
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